Thursday, May 31, 2012

Bloomberg Proposes Banning Big Slurps

Eli,

In his never-ending quest to re-make the world in his own image, NY mayor Bloomberg proposes a ban on the sale of a variety of large-size drinks. The purported reason is to reduce obesity.

There are so many ludicrous aspects to this proposal, but the one that struck me is this: according to the NY Times, the "measure would not apply to diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks like milkshakes, or alcoholic beverages."

I know, when emotions are in play facts don't matter. But consider the number of calories per ounce of the following:

Minute Maid orange juice 11.8 calories/fluid ounce

Budweiser 12 calories/fluid ounce

McDonald's chocolate milkshake 44.4 calories/fluid ounce

Whole milk 17 calories/fluid ounce

Coca-Cola 9.3 calories/fluid ounce

Bloomberg wants to restrict, for the sake of preventing obesity, the drink that has the LEAST caloric content, relative to the drinks that are exempted.